grace's high tea

yesterday my darling niece grace turned 12 - so on saturday mum and i gave her a fancy high tea party to celebrate with her friends. we had the best time and hope she did too.

grace's other grandmother kindly offered up her outdoor area for us to use for the party and we spent a few hours decorating beforehand... making it look just so.

pastel pompoms available in a range of colours and sizes here on ebay

patchwork bunting made by my lovely mum for maddie's room a few years ago

we hauled crates full of things up the driveway for setup, including white teapots, to fill with roses from mums friends garden (we have contacts all over the place haha) a trio set for each guest, white tablecloths and a pile of multi-tiered plates for serving.

i managed to score these cute fans from a friend that was married last month, so that each of the girls could take a gift as they left. seriously, you go to a party and get a present? win/win!

all set up before the girls arrived... we had so much fun... and it was all worth it when grace walked in and saw it all ready - all for her.

♥

very girly and cute for the girl of the day

looking good!

♥

we also set up a little area for the girls to strut their stuff with a stack of props we provided, to make a photobooth. as i predicted, the girls loved it and proceeded to ham it up and take a whole pile of photos. i loved watching them... kind of made me wish i was 12 again. i especially love this one of my gorgeous nieces emma and grace. they look so sweet together.

miss emma kate ♥

grace and her cousin lily

the hall girls love to put on a good show and once they saw the photo props, they were in there posing away... i think there us almost as many photos of them as there is of the girls. goodness me they were funny!

grace opening her presents from us. glad to see she liked them!

and this amazing cake that mum put together... not only did it look incredible, but it was so yum! it took a great deal of effort to only eat a teeny piece. 

happy birthday sweet grace, my world got a little brighter the day you were born! xx

she climbs mountains

illustration copyright paula mills melbourne australia
available for sale here

last week, miss grace turned 8 so off we trekked to kalgoorlie over the weekend for her baptism. what a wonderful girl our grace is. tiny, sweet, enthusiatic, lovable, cuddly, strong, determined and just... gorgeous. i'm not biased at all, i swear. she received the print above from the neighbours, for a baptism gift - and it describes her so perfectly, for if anyone will climb a mountain,
it will be our grace.

big sister laura and i sang together for grace:
i like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain
and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again
i want my life to be as clean, as earth right after rain
i want to be the best i can - and live with god again

i know when i am baptised, my wrongs are washed away
and i can be forgiven and improve myself each day
i want my life to be as clean, as earth right after rain
i want to be the best i can - and live with god again
childrens songbook #103

it was so lovely to see grace in her beautiful white dress (the same one i wore to be baptised!) all those years ago - and laura wore too! - followed by big sis laura's flowergirl dress from our wedding. it was a wonderful day and i was so pleased
(and extremely proud) to be a part of it!

grace with dad (my big brother) jared and mum donna